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Project M: Miku Dress up Complete!

We have finally come to the end of Project M, customized Miku Hatsune doll by cutebucket. The final steps is to do her signature Vocaloid dress and it is going to be really custom make from ground zero including the accessories. Over to cutebucket.

Once I had the pattern, I had to cut the pieces out of fabric. I decided to start with the thigh highs.

What makes sewing doll clothes somewhat more difficult than sewing clothes for regular humans is that it's generally impossible to hem/finish edges after the rest of the garment has been sewn and fit. Because the pieces are too small to fit under a machine after they've been sewn, I had to make sure that all my edges were done first.

I used a small zigzag stitch to finish most of the edges of Miku's outfit. This would effectively mimic the turquoise edges that she has on all the parts of her costume.

Just like sewing any garment, everything got turned inside out to hide the seams.

This will goes to the feet...

With the thigh highs done, it was time to move on to the shirt. The process was always generally the same: cutting the fabric, finishing the edges, sewing it all together...

and turning it inside out.

I experimented on the best way to make the collar using this fabric version of the outfit.

The final version was made out of shiny silver material, more accurate to the official image of Miku.

Here you can see how the old shirt was used as a pattern, similar to the paper pattern, but with the proper fit on Miku.

After the shirt, the skirt was next.
From cosplay experience, I learned that pleated skirts are deceptively simple in their appearance. In order to get pleats to fall more or less straight when the skirt is being worn, a large circle skirt is the best option.

This is the circle that Miku's skirt was made from. I used a wider zigzag stitch to finish the bottom of the skirt (ironing is important to keep the edges look good!)

Pleating on a small scale is a pain in the finger but not any different from regular-sized pleats.

After sewing the pleats in place, I ironed some more to keep them flat. For the shiny plastic-y material that I used, I had to be careful to iron only on the back side, since the front was prone to melting.

Fitting...

Sewing...

Adding a snappy snap (a sew-on snap to close the top of the skirt)...

... and snappies for the shirt, too...

The armwarmers were made the same way as the thigh highs.

I treated the small details on the skirt and armwarmers like decals. I used photoshop to create the designs, scaled them to size, and printed them on sticker paper.

A layer of glossy sealant gave them the same shiny appearance as the black material of the skirt.

For the tie, I selected a fabric that wouldn't fray, so that I didn't need to worry about finishing the edges (finishing something that small ends up looking messy no matter how careful you are!). After getting its details drawn on using a craft marker, the tie got sewn directly on to the top of Miku's shirt.

Time to make the headphones and hairties!

I used a paper pattern to determine the size that I needed to make the headphones.

The material of choice to make these accessories was Sculpey, which hardens when it is baked in the oven.

Shape it,

Mold it...

Fashion it...

The hairties (if you can even call them that) needed to have something in order to keep them from falling down, so I decided to sacrifice some of my older, not-so-straight pins, to use the point.

Look painful...

I replaced the blue hairties used previously with less noticeable green wire, taken from a green paperclip.

A little bit of acrylic paint, and the hairpieces start to look like what they're supposed to:

The headphones were painted in a similar way; after some struggling with different options, they were finally secured to her head using hot glue.

I also used acrylic paints to finalize the rest of Miku...

including painting her nails and the number on her arm.

and before I know it...

She was done!

Next to GSC Miku.

A few shots in the fresh autumn air...

Thank you Cutebucket for sharing the making of customized dolls. I salutation to her for her talent and the devotion to the completion of Project M! You can catch more of cutebucket works and cosplay at her blog.

Noiw Miku want to find a home and owner who will love her and cherish her. Contact Cutebucket if you want to want to adopt this Miku doll. The detail can be found here.